McOrca-Whales

[armchairsailor]

I went on a whale watching trip to see orcas 9 years ago. We learnt that of the 2 types, you should be more worried about the transients, not the residents. The transients travel for 000's of miles, eating whatever they fancy (inlcuding deer!) whilst the residents are strictly fish only.

Whilst they showed equal interest and passivity to humans from a large powerboat, I'd not like to risk swimming with them... Perhaps the reason why there have been no recorded incidents is because the orcas leave no trace...?

I echo the concerns over basking sharks - we had one swim under our 13' orkney one summer and I shat meself - the thing was almost the same width as the transom. if it had caught its nose on the prop, we'd have been swimming. Funnily enough, the next day we sailed into a pod of bottlenose dolphins - it was a good year.

 

[Signed Out]

This makes for exciting reading- I have seen many dolphin (particularly around Ireland- did a month's trip with not a day without seeing any! Some great pics), but never a good view of a great whale, or even evidence of an Orca or Basking Shark. Most frustratingly is that Orcas have been spotted while I slept and not got woken, grrr.

And this year expect to be sailing in the area discussed, woohoo. Camera at the ready.

I have heard about different colour undersides making a difference in how certain whales, etc. react. Maybe it's an urban (well, ok, nautical) myth, but no harm in trying- any idea what colours get ignored, or...?

 

[DownWest]

In 69 I found myself in a pod of whales in the med. They were bigger than us (26ft) but did not seem interested. Closest was around 50ft? Great experience if a bit arse clenching. Porpoises etc were an everday joy, close enough to touch.

 

[Grumpybear]

We had a brief glimpse of a Minke about twenty yards astern last year when on passage from Plymouth to Falmouth. we were putting in a reef and I was on the coach roof looking aft when it breached, crossing our wake on a 90 track. my wife, at the wheel, missed it entirely.

 

[dunedin]

despite all my years sailing and working at the Natural History unti for the BBc in Bristol never seen either a shark or a dolphin - seen the odd harbour porpoise around essex though. The seals have been a real pleasure on the journey - the one on the Alde began to feel like a friend.

I really hope I get to see such a wonderful thing as a killer whale.

Never seen a puffin in the flesh either... so many treats ahead of self and slug

Clearly boating in the wrong place mate ;-)

Without looking for them we have found 5 basking sharks - SWMBO just missed one by feet which we passed at full speed off Coll, would have been a big bang - and also had a close encounter with a Minke Whale just off Millport in November.
Had otters alongside us whilst pulling the fenders in departing Craobh Marina, and wading through puffins by the thousands at Treshnish and Shiants
Don't count seals, having had them resident at Rhu Marina, and seem to have a semi resident porpoise at Hunterston buoy off Largs and following us past Bute on Saturday

 

[dylanwinter]

I am on my way

Clearly boating in the wrong place mate ;-)

Without looking for them we have found 5 basking sharks - SWMBO just missed one by feet which we passed at full speed off Coll, would have been a big bang - and also had a close encounter with a Minke Whale just off Millport in November.
Had otters alongside us whilst pulling the fenders in departing Craobh Marina, and wading through puffins by the thousands at Treshnish and Shiants
Don't count seals, having had them resident at Rhu Marina, and seem to have a semi resident porpoise at Hunterston buoy off Largs and following us past Bute on Saturday

I have seen sea otters on the Shetlands - but that was from the land.

All you say is true - I am boating in the wrong place for such wonders

and I am on my way in your direction and hope to capture many of these spectacular things on my camera so that I can share them with other sailors and remind myself of the experience when I am an elderly man

However, I have had a wonderful time on the East Coast and have seen some amazing displays or aerobatics from the birds of the Wash - they are one of the Uks most spectacular natural sites. To see the skeins of 2000 or more geese working their way across East Anglian winter skies has brought me a great deal of pleasure.

I did spend a summer sailing the Eboat off the west coast of scotland - astonishing place

although there is one other good thing about East Anglia - the light is amazing and you can't argue with a mere 22 inches of rain.

They do get a lot of nice dry days on which to go sailing - winter and summer. 60 inches or even 80 inches of rain is a lot

Dylan

 

[explores]

We saw five basking sharks on the way from Falmouth to the Helford river last year,and they were bigger than our boat 18ft.we did not get to close just in case.

 

[idpnd]

I went on a whale watching trip to see orcas 9 years ago. We learnt that of the 2 types, you should be more worried about the transients, not the residents. The transients travel for 000's of miles, eating whatever they fancy (inlcuding deer!) whilst the residents are strictly fish only.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orca

the wild ones dont eat humans, theres some great footage of encounters by the late & great Costeau.. putting them in a tiny pool and surrounding them with mcdonaldised types does seem to drive them crazy sadly

 

[Sea Watch Foundation]

Reporting Cetacean Sightings around the UK

Sea Watch is a research charity that maintains a National database of cetacean sightings data from around the UK. Any information on the whereabouts of dolphins and whales is very valuable to us so if you come across any on your travels please get in touch with a location (lats and longs if possible), species (or a good desciption) and number of animals.

This data contributes to giving an idea a habitat use and species distribution and is crucial to conservation and habitat management. Please don't hesitate to get in touch with your sightings!!

sightings@seawatchfoundation.org.uk